the things that live inside me / everything i’d never know
"pipevine swallowtail"
photo by Ross (Dragon)
the things that live inside me / everything i’d never know
by Kailey Tedesco
for the second time i’m told inside me
there is much witch, much angry mob
with pitchfork, no afterlife with too much
organized church. my grandmother
refuses touch for fear of curse, so
much blood oozes round my heart
upon the sight of a roadside cat, hurt
forever. i’m of the camp of sarcophagi
drinkers, any pastille to rebrand the very
etymology of lifeblood. even the titanic
left an amniotic sac around its china, rust
water to preserve the sketchwork, make
the remains vampiric for a new
passing animal. kiss me if you
want — i’m told my hysterics do
nothing for the creature, the menagerie
of obsidian showing the tigers
of my lounging soul splayed
on carpet & coffin. every life deemed
full or too short, but never between. if
grandmother, frightened beyond
belief by the thought of fortunes, has
a premonition much true
my heart will seep
& i will finally know taste.
____________________________________________
Kailey Tedesco is the author of She Used to be on a Milk Carton (April Gloaming Publishing) and These Ghosts of Mine, Siamese (Dancing Girl Press). She is an associate editor for Luna Luna Magazine. Her manuscript Lizzie, Speak recently won White Stag Publishing's full-length poetry prize. You can find her work featured or forthcoming in Prelude, Phoebe Journal, Muse/A Journal, Sugar House Review, New South, and more. For further information, please visit kaileytedesco.com.
